Harm Reduction Journal BioMed Central Research Open Access My first time: initiation into injecting drug use in Manipur and Nagaland, north-east India Michelle Kermode*1, Verity Longleng2, Bangkim Chingsubam Singh2, Jane Hocking3, Biangtung Langkham2 and Nick Crofts1 Address: 1Nossal Institute for Global Health, University of Melbourne, Carlton, Victoria, Australia, 2c/- Project ORCHID, CBCNEI Mission Compound, Guwahati, Assam, India and 3Key Centre for Women's Health, University of Melbourne, Carlton, Victoria, Australia Email: Michelle Kermode* -
[email protected]; Verity Longleng -
[email protected]; Bangkim Chingsubam Singh -
[email protected]; Jane Hocking -
[email protected]; Biangtung Langkham -
[email protected]; Nick Crofts -
[email protected] * Corresponding author Published: 5 December 2007 Received: 3 July 2007 Accepted: 5 December 2007 Harm Reduction Journal 2007, 4:19 doi:10.1186/1477-7517-4-19 This article is available from: http://www.harmreductionjournal.com/content/4/1/19 © 2007 Kermode et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Abstract Background: The north-east Indian states of Manipur and Nagaland are two of the six high HIV prevalence states in the country, and the main route of HIV transmission is injecting drug use. Understanding the pathways to injecting drug use can facilitate early intervention with HIV prevention programs. While several studies of initiation into injecting drug use have been conducted in developed countries, little is known about the situation in developing country settings.